Dove Letters: ON THE ROAD
to tour is to be tenacious
Dear Dove,
The first tour I went on was not really a tour.
It was me and my first manager in 2019 circumnavigating Germany and Austria in an Opel Corsa (manual, because we couldn’t afford the automatic—I don’t know how to drive manual, so the driving fell on my poor ex-manager’s foot, because of course, there was no cruise control). The tour was poorly booked, as in, it was not booked by a booking agent at all, or even someone who has booked tours for others before, but some Irish guy who I am still not quite sure why he was ever asked to do such a thing.
I’ll never forget the first show. It’s this picturesque German town, one that I guess, by the looks of it, wasn’t bombed in the Second World War. It was in this charming small bar with a tiny stage in the corner. As we introduced ourselves to the bar manager, they told us, well, this is a university town and classes don’t start for a couple weeks, so, there probably won’t be many people here. I would have called my booking agent to complain, but, as I have explained, there was no booking agent. Just an Irish guy. Who isn’t a booking agent.
It was a late summer evening and every single person at the bar (there were 7 people), were sitting outside. So the bar manager had radical idea—we could open the window at the back of the stage that faces the patio where the people are singing and have me sing out of it. Yes, I literally sang out of the window like a locked up princess in a tower to 7ish German strangers for an hour and a half. Why not?
And no, my prince charming did not come to unlock me from this tower-tour, but what did come save me was an emotion that I believe is required of all artists, at any level—an emotion I shall call tenacity.
Tenacity cannot be taught. It can only be uncovered. To be tenacious is to know that there are plenty of very talented people on this planet, probably more talented than you and me—but the energy that cuts through the noise is not usually the talent, it’s the tenacious ability to be one’s self loudly and unabashedly.
I’m not talking about hustling *throws up in mouth*. I’m not talking about the grind. *places hand over heart in grief*. I’m talking about the life-giving force that says I AM HERE, and THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER. It says I DON’T CARE IF YOU LIKE IT because I LIKE IT.
The tour continued, with memories I will hold in my heart forever. Eating terrible grocery store sushi next to the highway under the snow capped majesty of the Swiss alps. Singing Mother, Mary, and Me for the first time in a gothic church. Sleeping on the couch of a profoundly kind individual named Olga who was the manager of a café I played in who was also a trained undertaker and had all of the Xbox games I used to play when I was kid. Wandering through shiny cobblestone streets, trying to keep up with my perm by Google translating products in a German drug store (that was hard work), hand stitching tote bags to sell as merch only to find out that “tote” means “dead body” in German, so I was literally advertising my merch as “dead body bags”.
This is the spirit to which I still feel in my soul.
This is the only place where life makes sense to me. Wandering, through strange places, performing a show, packing it all up and going on to the next town. I guess humans have been doing this forever, little troops of performers putting on a show for a city, entertaining them, and moving on. Yes, the corporations and the agents and the fancy LED screens, that is all new, but the act of this vocation, is ancient. There is nothing new under the sun.
Take away the big stage, and I’ll go right back to doing it in a café to no one. Take away the café and I will gladly do it on the street corner, busking, like I did in high school. That is the tenacity, that properly maintained and cared for, is the driving force to the entire journey.
Love,
Jake
PS. my tour with opening for Cyndi Lauper has just began…I hope to see you out there! x
DOVE OF THE WEEK
The dove is an ancient symbol of hope and peace. I feel this life is a journey and I am just looking for the doves along the way, the signs that there is still hope out there. I’m looking for the signs that will unlock the next part of the path. Every week, I will share a “dove”, or a sign of hope, from one of y’all in this section. This is to keep the light alive in this world that is so often shrouded in darkness. If you’d like to share your “dove of the week” with me, please email hellojakewesleyrogers@gmail.com
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